PKO BP exchanges cards for customers. We will all benefit from this
PKO Bank Polski issues payment cards made of recycled rPVC. The first such cards are already in the wallets of the first customers, and more will be added in the coming weeks and months.
At the end of last year to the first customers PKO Bank Polski debit and credit cards arrived and were made made of 100% recycled material (rPVC). Such “ecological” cards are to gradually replace “old” cards of particular types, made of standard PVC material. According to the bank, it is in its clients’ wallets 10 million PKO BP payment cardsresulting in about 50 tons of plastic.
We are starting to issue payment cards made of recycled materials on a mass scale. This is an important step in the development of sustainable payments that are consistent with our beliefs and the bank’s strategy. We believe that cards made of more ecological materials will become a new norm on the Polish market. It has happened many times that PKO Bank Polski has inspired other banks and set market development trends. And that’s not all – in the near future we can expect further innovations in the area of payments that will improve the convenience and security of card payments on the Internet and at the same time support the green transformation, because they will ultimately reduce the number of plastic payment cards that our customers have in their wallets.
– said Edyta Tararuj, director of the Product Development Office in the Individual Client Products Department at PKO Bank Polski
PKO BP wants to be more eco-friendly
By replacing PVC payment cards with cards made of recycled materials, PKO Bank Polski wants to be more environmentally friendly. The first step in this process was a mid-2023 release Transparent credit cardsmade 70% Ocean Plastic, i.e. from recycled PET plastic (so-called rPET). The material comes from the processing of plastic bottles recovered from the natural environment.
Before the end of 2023, the bank also started issuing loans cards made of 100% recycled PVC (rPVC). They are among them debit and credit cards from the bank’s gallery of cards to choose from, including cards from the Ekstraklasa gallery, as well as Inteligo debit cards. In February and March this year, the bank started sending debit cards with the Visa logo, issued to Konto dla Młodych, and cards to Personal Banking customers.
Currently all cards produced for PKO Bank Polski are made of rPVC or Ocean Plastic in their plastic part. In the case of rPVC, industrial waste, for example from the packaging and printing industries, is most often used as the material. These cards meet all relevant quality and safety standards.
New PKO BP payment cards made of recycled materials will be available easy to distinguish from others. There is an inscription on the reverse of the card “Made from 100% recycled PVC” or “Made from 70% Ocean Plastic®” along with the recycling symbol. In the case of Ocean Plastic cards, the use of a maximum of 70% recycled PET material results from the specificity of the card construction and the technological requirements of its production process and international standards determining the quality of cards.
